BATON ROUGE — Following its decisive victory at the John Hayt Invitational a week ago, the LSU men’s golf team has catapulted itself into the Top 20 of the national rankings this week with the release of the latest Golfstat Top 25 and Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.
The Tigers are ranked No. 20 in both polls as the Golfweek ranking was announced Tuesday with the Golfstat poll being released late Wednesday afternoon.
LSU, which was unranked heading into the John Hayt Invitational, scored an eight-stroke victory at one of the most prestigious events of the spring season hosted by the University of North Florida at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
The Tigers finished the three-day tournament with a 54-hole score of 21-over par 885 to finish an impressive eight shots ahead of ninth-ranked Arizona State. Sophomore John Peterson led the way by capturing the individual title with a score of 2-under 214. Sophomore Andrew Loupe also earned his best career finish by tying for second place in the individual standings.
Peterson is the first Tiger to win an individual title since former LSU standout Beck Troutman did so at the LSU Spring Invitational at the University Club in Baton Rouge in April 2005.
This also marks the second time this season that the Tigers have won a tournament title after they opened the season by tying for the team title at the Gopher Invitational on Sept. 14, 2008.
The Tigers will return to action March 20 when they make their annual trip to Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, Ga., to compete against another strong field at the Schenkel/E-Z-Go Invitational. The three-day event will wrap up with the final round on March 22.
Golfstat Top 25
1. Georgia
2. Southern California
3. Oklahoma State
4. Clemson
5. Illinois
6. Indiana
7. Alabama
8. Stanford
9. Arizona State
10. Texas Tech
11. Texas
12. Georgia Tech
13. Florida
14. Washington
15. Tennessee
16. South Carolina
17. UCLA
18. TCU
19. Central Florida
20. LSU
21. Arkansas
22. Florida State
23. Texas A&M
24. UC-Davis
25. Ole Miss
Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index
1. Georgia, 69.36
2. Southern California, 69.76
3. Oklahoma State, 69.80
4. Clemson, 70.26
5. Stanford, 70.31
6. Florida, 70.54
7. Texas Tech, 70.58
8. Illinois, 70.66
9. Arizona State, 70.66
10. South Carolina, 70.71
11. Alabama, 70.72
12. Georgia Tech, 70.72
13. Indiana, 70.82
14. Texas, 70.83
15. Washington, 70.93
16. Arkansas, 70.99
17. Central Florida, 71.01
18. Tennessee, 71.09
19. TCU, 71.13
20. LSU, 71.17
21. Colorado State, 71.20
22. UCLA, 71.22
23. California, 71.29
24. Michigan State, 71.33
25. Texas A&M, 71.36